Focusing on the two seventeenth-century pioneers of microscopic dicovery, the Dutchmen Jan Swammerdam and Antoni van Leewenhoek, Ruestow demonstrates that their uneasiness with their social circumstances spurred their discoveries. Though arguing that aspects of Dutch culture impeded serious research with the microscope, Ruestow also shows, however, that the culture of the period shaped how Swammerdam and Leewenhoek responded to what they saw through the lens. He concludes by emphasising how their early microscopic efforts differed from the institutionalised microscopic research that began in the nineteenth century.

Ruestow examines the social unease that spurred the discoveries of the pioneers of microscopic research.
Reviews
'Ruestow offers us an extremely thorough study of a fascinating period in the history of science ... Ruestow is to be congratulated for producing a work that will be read with profit for many years to come.' G. L. E. Turner, Nature
' ... clearly and lucidly written ...' Endeavour



Book Information
ISBN 9780521528634
Author Edward G. Ruestow
Format Paperback
Page Count 364
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 560g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 22mm